STOLEN 1734 STRADIVARIUS WILL SING AGAIN

After a meticulous restoration that took more than a year, a Stradivarius violin that was stolen from violinist Roman Totenberg and missing for decades is about to return to the stage. The violin known as the Ames Stradivarius is one of roughly 550 surviving instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, history’s most renowned violin maker. Built in 1734, it’s likely worth millions of dollars. It was stolen in 1980 and wasn’t recovered until 2015, three years after Totenberg died at age 102. The presumed thief was journeyman violinist Philip Johnson, who was himself dying of pancreatic cancer. For Totenberg’s three daughters, its recovery has been a series of joys. Jill Totenberg compared it to “Christmas, even though we’re Jewish.” They’ll hear it again at a private concert in New York on Monday.